Are all banks the same? - Fraud prevention

RICK..._2

Hi guys,

At the weekend I nipped into Asda and my card declined, said they needed phone authorisation. The woman said I'd need to go over to CS, so as I started to do so, the woman asked me to stay where I was and to wait for someone to walk me over. !!!!!!??? :mad: Was in there about 20-25 mins and my takeaway was stone cold as I was only expecting to be in and out!

Anyway, basically Natwest locked my account as I'd made 10 transactions on that day, just wondered if all banks were the same as can't remember it happening with any of my previous accounts? They reckon ALL banks do it, but can't find anything on Google.

On pay day I pay alot of bills over the phone etc, so it is quite annoying and puts me in some extremely embarassing situations as above.

zppp

RICK... wrote: »

Hi guys,

At the weekend I nipped into Asda and my card declined, said they needed phone authorisation. The woman said I'd need to go over to CS, so as I started to do so, the woman asked me to stay where I was and to wait for someone to walk me over. !!!!!!??? :mad: Was in there about 20-25 mins and my takeaway was stone cold as I was only expecting to be in and out!

Anyway, basically Natwest locked my account as I'd made 10 transactions on that day, just wondered if all banks were the same as can't remember it happening with any of my previous accounts? They reckon ALL banks do it, but can't find anything on Google.

On pay day I pay alot of bills over the phone etc, so it is quite annoying and puts me in some extremely embarassing situations as above.

There isn't any set transaction limit, however, it is quite normal for banks to look at your account and place a stop if you have multiple transactions by card, which is not in line with the normal account conduct, suspecting fraud. If such transactions were fraudulent, you would be pleased that the bank has stopped them on the other hand.

paulmcerlean

Looks like Asda were more to blame for your troubles than Natwest. Unfortunately banks do this sometimes but it is to protect you, not cause you a nuisance.

Mark_In_Hampshire

This might be a bit out of date but was true when I worked for Debenhams:

A retailer can, if suspicious about you, ask for a "code ten" authorisation. The retailer calls the card scheme (e.g. Visa) and asks for a code 10 authorisation. Visa ring your bank to find out a few snippets of personal information and then return to the retailer and usually ask to speak to you directly. They ask you the questions to which they found the answers, then you hand the phone back and the card scheme rep then tells the retailer "yes, authorised", "no - declined" or "declined - retain card" (the latter one if you got the answers wrong)

If the retailer invokes this, it is to protect them against a stolen card. In your case it sounds like the card issuer invoked this by placing a flag on the card which was responsible for the voice authorisation being needed.

RICK..._2

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

Yeah I guess it makes sense now, was just highly embarassing more than anything. I just hope it doesn't happen every month as I do make quite a few transactions on pay day.

fozmcfc

Natwest are by far the worse for this. I have had a dozen or more cards in my life and Natwest are the only ones who have ever refused a transcation on one of my cards.

With my credit card it happened/still happens on every other transcation. Even when I was abroad and told them I was they stopped my card.

I appreciate fraud prevention, but I think Natwest are heavy handed.

Finally I have had my card cloned and Natwest didn't pick up on that until afterwards.

Fiddlestick

RICK... wrote: »

At the weekend I nipped into Asda and my card declined, said they needed phone authorisation. The woman said I'd need to go over to CS, so as I started to do so, the woman asked me to stay where I was and to wait for someone to walk me over. !!!!!!???

It's a supermarket, not a Police station.

If someone at my local supermarket treated me like that I'd be walking alright - over to the manager's office to put in a complaint!

zppp

fozmcfc wrote: »

Finally I have had my card cloned and Natwest didn't pick up on that until afterwards.

How are you expecting them to do that, get their crystal ball out?

fozmcfc

zppp wrote: »

How are you expecting them to do that, get their crystal ball out?

No, but it seems funny how the numerous times they picked up my normal transcations as possible fraud, but when it was actual fraud they didn't pick it up and stop the transcation.

preable

Happend to me with natwest this was at a petrol station made me feel like a right idiot

iereboy

Natwest are not the only ones to do it, ALL banks do it.

There are limits on everything:

*Limits to how much cash you can take out
*Limits to the maximum you can use your card for one transaction
*Limits to the number of times you can use your card in one day.

If the op is aware of the problem every pay day, why not get a second current account with a card or another card with another provider.

Can't believe in this day, the op has not got a back up card.

Common sense eh - its not rocket science to avoid the problem!